Climate change isn't causing the multi-year drought that is devastating parts of Argentina, Uruguay, Brazil and Bolivia, but warming is worsening some of the dry spell's impacts, a new study says.
The natural three-year climate condition La Nina -- a cooling of the central Pacific that changes weather worldwide temporarily but lasted much longer than normal this time -- is the chief culprit in a drought that has devastated central South America and is still going on, according to a flash study released Thursday by international scientists at World Weather Attribution. The study has not been peer reviewed yet.
"There is no climate change signal in the rainfall," said study co-author Friederike Otto of the Grantham Institute at Imperial College in London. "But of course, that doesn't mean that climate change doesn't play an important role in the context of these droughts. Because of the extreme increase in heat that we see, the soils do dry faster and the impacts are more severe they would have otherwise been.
The team of scientists at World Weather Attribution use observations and climate models to see if they find a climate change factor in how frequent or how strong extreme weather is. They compare what happened to how often it happened in the past, and they run computer simulations that contrast reality to what would have happened in a world without human-caused climate change from burning of fossil fuels.
Philippines Latest News, Philippines Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Volunteers needed: Ground-breaking North American Indigenous Games arriving in Halifax this summer | SaltWireBiggest multi-sport event ever in Atlantic Canada expected to bring more than $20 million in economic benefits
Read more »
Algoma Steel expects North American market to rebound in 2023Sault Ste. Marie steelmaker posts $69.8 million loss in third quarter
Read more »
Investors don’t expect stock rally to last despite recession threat receding: Bank of America surveyMost investors expect stocks to return to new lows despite recession risks receding, a survey by Bank of America Corp. found. Read more.
Read more »
Pancreatic cancer ‘rising rapidly’ among women, study saysNew research found that BlackWomen, in particular, are more vulnerable to PancreaticCancer — one of the deadliest forms of cancer. Just under 7,000 Canadians were diagnosed with pancreatic cancer last year, according to cancersociety – healthing_ca
Read more »